He was stunned into silence when the woman spoke to him.
That was Joleen Arison, positioned in 30 on the world rank made by the System, and the only Thief in the top 500!
And she was right in front of him.
He didn't even heard anything else she said, he was more focused on the fact she was there, asking him if he wanted to go to Iron Solace.
It was like a dream!
He was debating if he should ask for her autograph when his twin's voice woke him up.
"He can't go with you"
It was the exact same cold tone she used whenever someone asked if he wanted to play with them when they were younger.
And her response was the one she always used.
"This one is not an Awakened"
He wasn't surprised nor sad.
He just looked at her silently.
"She just prepared the stage for you kid" Matthew said in his ear "Will you let it go to waste?"
{Of course not}
He got up, already speaking.
"Sorry, but I actually-"
"Don't be sorry!"
He was rudely interrupted by Arison, but what she said next surprised him.
"It's even better to know it's you! The principal has been trying to get a pass to meet you for a long time!"
The principal wanted to meet him?
Now that was unexpected.
He wondered why.
But, right now, it wasn't the time to think too much about it.
He had a spotlight to steal.
"Actually"
He lowered his turtleneck to reveal hisbnew ID and a small smile that he couldn't contain.
"I Awakened"
There was a beat of silence, then chaos broke loose.
"He what!?"
"Wasn't he unable to?"
"So he was really just a late bloomer?"
No one tried to hide their surprise, loudly speaking their minds to anyone who could hear.
Matthew seemed satisfied with the reaction, especially with Amanda's, who seemed thunderstruck by the news.
There weren't any emotions other than surprise all over her face.
He once imagined this type of situation, where he would make such an announcement. He once imagined that his family would welcome him as part of them, that he would be brought back home and have his happily ever after.
But now that the day came for him to make this announcement and he saw his sister's reaction, he knew it was just a naive fantasy.
So he just turned to Arison.
"I'd love to go to Iron Solace" He said.
The smile that surged in the woman's lips was the biggest one he ever saw after Fantasia's.
—
"Did you really awaken?"
Amadeus was on the bus that would take him to Iron Solace, there were still more stops before they could go to the Academy, but he was fine with it.
He was trying to convince Matthew and Leonard to let him read a bit more when Elijah Jackson approached him with Akilah Grace in town.
There was no malice in his eyes, just pure curiosity.
"I did" He answered.
"Can we see your skills?"
Grace gave him shiny eyes that were very hard to deny.
"... Only if you guys show yours"
"Deal!"
Leonard chuckled at the quick answer of the two while grinned at their enthusiasm.
Amadeus could only watch as Grace sat by his side and Jackson stood behind him.
Jackson and Grace were known as good friends in the school, but Amadeus never really interacted with them, studying in different classes and having different schedules, they never had a chance to properly meet.
"First!"
Jackson was first to make a move.
Amadeus watched as the boy's eyes shone brightly and emanated a golden aura
"I can track anything and anyone with this skill!" He said "And I also have a skill that allows me to stay camouflaged, but it only works when I'm in the wild"
"So he can't visually show us his skill" Matthew deadpanned.
Well, that's disappointing, but not strange.
He heard that Jackson was a Hunter, Tracking and Camouflage was the Hunter's first skill set, as it was publicly known.
The next to speak was Grace.
"I'm a Masked Fighter" He said as a wooden chameleon mask appeared in his hand "I have Mask Production and Mask Assimilation as my skills"
He took off his glasses and put on the mask a green glow appearing on the eyes of the mask as he slowly disappeared, leaving only his clothes and glasses in sight.
Amadeus was utterly impressed by the demonstration.
"Do the masks need to be made by you for the skill to activate? Do they need to be made of wood or any material works? Can you make masks of anything, like, people? Does that mean that-"
Amadeus noticed what he had done and covered his mouth with his hands as Matthew and Leonard laughed.
He was so excited that he let his mouth run wild, but Grace and Jackson didn't seem to mind, both having smiles on their faces.
"Any mask will do" Grace said while taking his mask off "And materials don't matter, I could even make a mask made of mithril, but I don't make or use masks of people, it's dangerous"
Dangerous?
He was confused for a moment, then remembered the second skill.
"Does Mask Assimilation have any side effects?" He asked.
The sheepish smile that appeared on Grace's face was enough of an answer.
"The skill give me the mask's physical and mental characteristics" Said Grace "And sometimes it takes a while for the mental part to worn off, I once stayed stuck with my mother's personality for a whole month after assimilating a mask based on her when I was eight"
Amadeus stopped to think for a while.
He saw how Bella Grace was well known publicly for two things.
Her strictness towards 99,99% of the people, and her fierce, absolute and undying love for her son.
It's a real wonder to everyone how he did not end up as a spoiled young master.
But if he got her personality after assimilating a mask based on her, does that mean he became in love with himself? Or was it with his mother?
With this in mind, his hand reached out for his hair, uncovering one of his eyes just so Grace could tell he was looking at him.
"I know what you're thinking" Jackson said, Grace's face completely red the he spoke "And the answer is yes"
Well, time to change subjects then.
Without much hesitation, he let go of his hair, hiding his eye once again.
"I'm a Summer of Art" He said "My skills are Book of Stories, which is a book with countless stories, although most are locked because of my low level, and the other…"
He took a deep breath as he concentrated, mind wandering through memories to find the right thing to summon.
When he finally found it, he activated Summoning Art and a translucent book appeared before his eyes.
Soon, something fell from the book into his hands.
"What the hell!?" Matthew practically screeched
It was a scorched log.
It seemed useless, but he knew how precious this thing was.
"Summoning Art" He said "I can summon anything on the book or anything new I created myself, like this one"
Jackson gave the log a strange look as Grace gave it a meaningful look.
Then the eyes of both widened, probably having seen stats.
"The f*ck?" Jackson said.
That was the Everlasting Stem, also known as the multipurpose wood, a material from one of his Memories, set in a world where snow covered every inch of land and most didn't know what warmth was.
If set on fire, it would never end, if used as a potion ingredient, it could grant fire resistance and prolonged effects depending on the potion, if used as fuel or forging material, it would produce the perfect flames for cooking and forging and would grant the fire affinity to itens.
It was one of the best items in that world, and one of the rarest too, only found in fire related Towers, and even then they were hard to find since they are only born after being burned relentlessly by magic fire and slowly absorbing the fire element.
It was only named briefly in the Memory, but the Book of Stories had all the details he needed, even the ones that Fantasia didn't know about.
But still, he couldn't help but be impressed by his own skill.
'I should put it on auction' He thought 'I might fetch some money from-'
"Sell it to me!"
His thoughts were interrupted by a suddenly eager Grace, who had fire on the eyes as he practically jumped on Amadeus.
"Name your price!" He said "I'll pay for it!"
It was quite the surprise, so much Amadeus didn't know what to say for a second.
And a second was enough for something new to come.
"What's happening here?
Arison came into view, eyes shining with curiosity and, before he could say anything, her eyes landed on the Everlasting Stem.
There was a long pause, her expression blank, then she approached him.
"Where did you find this?" She asked, her voice way too calm.
"I made it?" He said nervously "My skill let me do these kind of thing"
"Could you make one more?"
"Of course"
He made a second one and a gleam of something crossed the woman's eyes.
"Is there a limit of how much you can make?"
"I don't know, it's my first time using the skill"
She nodded solemnly, then extended her hand to him..
Confused, he took her hand, only for a notification to pop up.
[You received Two Million Coins!]
He was so stunned that he didn't register that she had taken the Everlasting Stems before disappearing at light speed.
"Well" Leonard said "That was something"
"Certainly" Matthew agreed.
Amadeus barely held back a nod while Jackson looked back and forth with confusion and Grace fummed and cursed while running off after her.
***
The moment her eyes landed on the seemingly simple scorched log, she thought Grace had lost it.
Then she saw the stats.
So she silently made a plan.
She asked simple questions, like where the kid got it, if he could get more, if there was a limit.
Then silently paid him, took the two logs and vanished before Grace could outsmart her.
Who cares if it was a shy kid a few minutes ago, that was a Grace, he would outsmart her if given the chance, so she had to be quick.
Getting out of the bus and sitting atop of it while on the move, she put the logs in her inventory.
She should pass by the blacksmith to enchant her weapons.
That old man would go crazy after looking at this thing.
***
After that fiasco, he did sell the Everlasting Stem to Grace for just the same amount (the guy insisted), but in proper money, as Amadeus was in need of actual capital.
Coins were good and all, you could boost stats and even convert it into actual money, but he didn't know how it worked and he wasn't incined on testing right now.
As the day went by, more and more people entered the Bus.
Usually it was a group of two to three, occasionally a lone person would appear and only once four people came in from the same school.
Soon the bus was full and Arison was standing in the front.
Now they were on Iron Solace's local quarters, where they met with students brought by other people from the Academy and also where they would be teleported to said Academy through their personal teleportation formation.
"We're now close to Iron Solace!" She announced "I'll give you all some time to decide with whom you guys will share a residence, after you do so, come find me outside on the next room"
The waiting room became very lively after she stepped out.
Students of Iron Solace lived in the residential area of the Academy, sharing a residence with five people that would become an official team in the Academy.
It was very important to everyone to be careful of who they chose.
He was invited to stay with Grace and Jackson, to which he agreed since they were actually good company and, during their wait, they managed to discover that their classes had some good synergy.
He could create things that were useful for them in battle, and they could buy time for him in case he needed to check over the Book of Stories for useful items, creatures or skills.
But the problem now was something entirely different.
"We'll give you the honor of being on my team!"
A girl with blond hair, red eyes and fair skin approached then, yes, a girl, approaching a group of guys to say she'll give them the honor of being on her team while two other girls stood behind her with smug expressions.
Yep, no, that's not happening.
"Pass"
"I refuse"
"I'm sorry, but no"
They refused all together.
But no way they are sharing a place with this girl.
It wasn't unheard of for boys and girls to share a residence, but it usually meant that they were family or were children of a specific group that had a good relationship.
This girls just came out of nowhere!
But she didn't seem to like their quick response, neither did the other two girls.
"Don't you know who I am?" She said with arrogance.
"Not really"
"Should I?"
Amadeus shrugged, but in reality, he did know her.
Well, more or less.
He didn't really know this girl, just a few things that popped up on the internet, but he knew about her cousin, a rare Sage that he saw entering the bus some time ago.
The girl in front of him was Gabriela Harper, a Spear Saintess not that well known despite the rarity of her class.
The problem is that gossip on the internet, despite all the covering the Harpers tried to do, said that she had a bad attitude.
And here was the proof of the rumors.
Gabriela gave them a furious look, her face getting red as she opened her mouth, seeming ready to speak when someone else spoke.
"Already causing trouble, dear cousin?"
He looked to the side and a new trio of girls, one of them looked like Gabriela, but she was taller, had sharp eyes and was more mature looking rather than the cute look of Gabriela's, the Spear Saint having round face and eyes that made her look younger.
And, this time, he truly knew one of them.
Elise Harper, a Sage.
Her class was super versatile since she could learn every skill if she put the effort into learning it.
The only thing she couldn't learn were Amadeus' skills, as he was creativity itself and his skills were just a written statement of what he was and was capable of using in his stage, not actual skills.
Sages can't learn how to use racial traits, only skills like magic or fighting styles, but she, as a Sage, could learn skills from his stories and Memories, as confirmed by the rules.
He could actually turn her into a one person army, but it's not like they would interact that much.